‘I told him you have to say yes or I will’ – Sourav Ganguly makes shocking revelations about appointing Rohit Sharma as captain

India’s former captain and former Indian cricket board president Sourav Ganguly recently made a shocking revelation about the Indian cricket team’s captaincy and head coach position. As per Sourav Ganguly, India’s current all-format captain and head coach Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid were reluctant to step into the important positions. 

Ganguly recently revealed that Rohit Sharma was hesitant to be appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team after Virat Kohli resigned from the test captaincy and was later sacked from the White ball captaincy. 

Ganguly revealed that Rohit Sharma believed the position brings in a lot of added pressure when you are appointed as the captain for all three formats in the game. He also discussed that the same situation happened with Rahul Dravid. 

Sourav Ganguly on Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid appointed as captain and head coach for the Indian team 

Ganguly revealed that he forced Rohit Sharma and went to the extent to tell him that even if he doesn’t agree to be the captain of the team for all formats he will automatically declare publicly which will leave Sharma with no choice but to step in the shoes of the captain. However, the odds turned out to be in the favor of Rohit Sharma considering the team’s stellar performance in the ODI World Cup 2023 and the World Test Championship 2022 final. 

“Rohit [Sharma] didn’t want the captaincy because there was a lot of pressure on playing all formats – it had gone to a stage where I told him you have to say yes or I will announce your name. I am happy he has taken it now he is leading from the front and you guys can check the results,” said Sourav Ganguly. 

“It’s a lot of time on the road. [He has a] young family, two young boys, plus he has played all his life. So, it’s not easy coaching, being on the road all the time. But he agreed, thinking about Indian cricket and I hope he will continue in the future because a coach needs to be given time. It is not magic that he will change his team in three, four, or five months. He needs to be given minimum time,” he added.